Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky Arrested During Abortion Rights Protest

EVANSTON, IL — Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky (D-Evanston) and 16 other Democratic members of Congress were arrested Tuesday during a protest for abortion access outside the U.S. Supreme Court.

U.S. Capitol Police said they arrested a total of 35 people on charges of crowding, obstructing or incommoding after they blocked traffic on First Street Northeast.

"Some of the demonstrators are refusing to get out of the street, so we are starting to make arrests," police announced on social media.

The demonstrators marched from the U.S. Capitol carrying a banner with the message, "Our Bodies. Our Courts. Our Democracy" before sitting in the street and chanting "We won't go back," according to video from the scene.

“I was there for my granddaughters. I mean, really, do you think that they should be deprived of rights that I’ve had? I’ve been there before ‘Roe,’ and seeing women who were so desperate. I was there after ‘Roe,’ trying to prevent states from making it harder for women to access abortions, and now, that ‘Roe,’ in so many places, has absolutely been obliterated.” Schakowsky said in a video message after her arrest.

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“It is so chaotic, frightening, wrong out there, that I was really proud to join in this civil disobedience effort to make the case that we are not going to stop fighting. We literally are not going to go back,” Schakowsky said. “So, this is an issue that needs to be on the ballot in November, and when we win in the Senate and in the House, which just this week, of course, passed, ratified Roe v. Wade, we can change this. And we will not go back.”

The Evanston Democrat was the lone member of the Illinois congressional delegation to be arrested at Tuesday's protest. Other arrestees included all five women members of "The Squad" and three members of California's congressional delegation.

U.S. Rep. Cori Bush, a Squad member who represents St. Louis, Missouri, released the following statement after her arrest.

“St. Louis sent me to Congress to do everything in my power to protect our rights and improve our lives. That’s why I’m fighting with everything I’ve got for my community," Bush said, according to KMOV. "Today was not the first day I’ve put my body on the line for our freedom, and I’m willing to do it again. As I’ve said before, we need to be doing everything in our power to secure reproductive justice and access to abortion. ”

In addition to Schakowsky and Bush, other congressional arrestees included Alma Adams of North Carolina; Katherine Clark of Massachusetts; Bonnie Watson Coleman of New Jersey; Madeline Dean of Pennsylvania; Veronica Escobar of Texas; Sara Jacobs of California; Barbara Lee of California; Andy Levin of Michigan; Carolyn Maloney of New York; Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York; Ilhan Omar of Minnesota; Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts; Jackie Speier of California; Rashida Tlaib of Michigan; and Nydia Velazquez of New York.

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All the arrestees were cited and released following their arrest, as is standard practice during such protests, a Capitol Police spokesperson told the Washington Post.

Last week, the House of Representatives voted 219-210 to pass the Women's Health Protection Act, a bill aimed at codifying the federal abortion rights protections removed after the Supreme Court overturned the landmark Roe vs. Wade decision last month.

That bill is unlikely to advance in the Senate, where a similar effort received only 49 votes in May following a leaked draft version of the opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization.

The decision removed the constitutional right to abortion, triggering abortion bans and other previously unconstitutional restrictions in more than a dozen states that are home to approximately 33 million women.